Truck operators are often required to perform minor repair and maintenance on their trucks, including connecting or disconnecting the tractor from their trailer, checking the tire air pressure, removing debris from the underside of a trailer, raising and lowering hydraulic landing gear when a trailer is disconnected from a trailer, and tightening loose connectors on the trailer.
Unfortunately, truck operators are often on the road when they are required to perform these tasks, and, due to the limited space in the tractor portion of the truck, have a limited amount of tools for performing these duties.
One example of a task required of a truck operator is the disconnection of a fifth wheel pin employed to connect the trailer to the tractor. The fifth wheel pin is located between the tractor and the trailer, above the rear tires of the tractor. The truck operator is expected to bend down and reach between the tractor and the trailer, past one set of rear tires, to pull the fifth wheel pin. This action requires operators to contort themselves into an awkward position while pulling the pin, and often results in strains to the shoulders, elbows, wrists and backs. Since the pulling of the pin is often done by a roadside, or in a parking lot, the truck operator is sometimes in an awkward and vulnerable position while performing this operation, since other trucks or cars may be driving past. The faster the operator is able to pull the pin, the less risk there is of injury due to third party action.
Truck operators are often also required to connect the fifth wheel pin, or to ensure the fifth wheel pin is properly connected. The operation is similar to that of the disconnection of the fifth wheel pin, described above, only in many cases the operator must push onto the pin to ensure that it is engaged.
Another minor task undertaken by the truck operator is the checking of the tire air pressure. This is often done by banging a butt bar (a straight piece of metal about 1-2 feet in length) onto the tires to test their air pressure.
Truck operators also often need to raise or lower the hydraulic landing gear on which the trailer rests when it is not hooked up to the tractor. Hydraulic landing gear often stick or seize, due to debris, temperature extremes, or other exposure or damage while on the road. Truck operators often have to scrape away this debris, or hammer at the landing gear to get it to operate.
In many instances, these operations need to be done in sub-optimal lighting conditions. Even at mid-day, the location of the fifth wheel pin (between the tractor and the trailer, behind the wheels of the tractor) make it hard to see. However, these operations often need to be done at night, especially in stressful, emergency-type situations.
Pin pull tools are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,559 describes a king pin release tool, for use when releasing the king pin from a fifth wheel coupling mechanism. Multi-use tools for truckers, including pin pulls, are also known, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,354,642, 4,050,107, and 5,344,201. However, these tools are long and awkward, and, where space is limited (such as in a tractor cab), may not be desirable.
Telescoping poles for a variety of uses are also known, and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,378,922, 6,450,557, 6,293,601, 4,881,338, and 5,003,437.